Sea Salt watercolor paper tests
I’m testing six watercolor papers to see how they respond to a sea salt lifting technique I use frequently in my wildlife art. Papers will be tested in two parts, with the papers in part one being:
- Stonehenge Aqua Hot Press 275 lb
- Hahnemühle Cold Press 300 lb
- Canson Heritage Cold Press 300 lb
Part two will feature:
- Saunders Waterford Cold Press 300 lb
- Lanaquarelle Rough 300 lb
- Lanaquarelle Hot Press 300 lb
Part one results:
Stonehenge Aqua 300 lb hot press
Stonehenge Aqua is a superb hot press. It is silky smooth, takes glazing and wet on wet quite well, though it has the same characteristic as its cold press cousin, in that paint seems to float on the surface for quite a while, making it (for me anyway) a bit difficult to lay colors down with any density, at first pass. Colors do really keep their vibrancy though and really pop from this paper. Could be a big hit for botanical artists. For wet-on-wet artists this will probably be an attractive feature. It handles fine lines and over-glazing exceptionally well and its tour de force is its superb lifting qualities. I did not lay down the sea salt while the paint was wet enough to really do justice, and when I laid down more wet paint later and attempted to achieve my expected sea salt effects, but the result was still not spectacular.
Step 1: wash and salting
Step 2: Salt removed, basic blocking in
Step 3: detailing
Step 4: completed test
Hahnemühle 300 lb cold press
Hahnemühle cold press is one of my favorite cp papers, with excellent color vibrancy, great wet-on-wet bleeding, excellent glazing and superb deliberate bloom and sea salt responses. It handles fine lines very well for a cold press and there is no pilling, even with multiple layers of glaze or heavy working of paint on paint.
Step 1: wash and salting
Step 2: Salt removed, basic blocking in
Step 3: detailing
Step 4: completed test
Canson Heritage 300 lb hot press
Canson Heritage is still showing up as an “-ish” paper for me. It can take blooms (ish) and blends and bleeds wet-on-wet well (ish), but colors fade a bit on drying and it really does not encourage lifting. It took to sea salt quite well (as all the cold press stocks did) but it really doesn’t quite suit my style.
Step 1: wash and salting
Step 2: Salt removed, basic blocking in
Step 3: detailing
Step 4: completed test
Sea salt test Video part one: Aqua, Hahnemühle & Heritage
